Support Update

Well, we achieved our goal of having $2000 within two weeks, which is impressive. Thanks, God! We have a ways to go, so you can continue to pray for us.

Pray that

-We would be able to finalize trip details and intinerary.

-We would receive all of our support.

-For safety and sanity in travel. (Traveling over many continents is stressful, as many of you know.)

-Our minds and hearts would be prepared for what God has for us.


We're really excited, and we get on the plane in only 16 days!

whoo hoo!

Our Original Support Letter

Dear friends,

Merry Christmas from the Collmans!

We have always known that cross-cultural ministry is a big part of our lives and will continue to be in the future. The question has just been when to explore this more deeply. We had been waiting for Ellie to finish school before taking a larger physical “step” out into cross-cultural ministry together. However, unexpected circumstances are now allowing us to move forward with this sooner. We prayed, fasted, and had many discussions with others. Through the process, it soon became clear; God has called us to go to Africa this January to live and engage with a ministry there for 3 months called New Hope Uganda.

We need to raise about $7500 in funds to go on our trip, $2000 of that within the next 2 weeks. We are committed to contributing at least 10%, or $750 of the trip cost. We would love to sit and talk with you about our plans if you have any questions. We invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us through prayer and giving as we prepare to leave next month on January 15th. We’ll call you in the next few weeks to follow up.

This ministry’s vision and mission is profound: “Bringing the fatherhood of God to the fatherless”. Their driving Bible verse is Psalm 68:5-6a. New Hope’s Kasana Children’s Center started in 1988 in the aftermath of a Ugandan civil war in order to care for and bring up the war-orphaned children. Since then, over 1000 orphaned and abandoned children have experienced love and care at Kasana through schooling, health care, church, outreach events, agricultural training, vocational/entrepreneurial training, and most importantly, a family unit. These days, most of the children are orphaned because of HIV/AIDS or malaria.

New Hope has a special place in Ellie’s heart, for this is where she spent a month of her summer in 2003 with a team from Hillsdale College’s InterVarsity. The baby home (Hope House) of Kasana Children’s Center is also where her cousin, Micah, was adopted from. We sponsor a 16 year old girl, Nnaku Eve Norah, who goes to school there. Needless to say, when the opportunity arose so quickly to go to this dear place, we thought and prayed hard, and jumped in!

This Uganda trip will serve several purposes for us, all of which we are excited about:
• Primarily to help us as a couple discern what kind of future ministry or career we want/feel called to pursue. So, this trip will be a “vision trip” of sorts, including having intentional discussions and spending significant time with missionaries on staff with New Hope and missionaries of other mission agencies in Uganda and Rwanda.

• Allow Ellie exercise her gift of teaching (her major) in an international venue (primarily working in the elementary school there)

• Allow John exercise his gift of service, helping build a guesthouse roof and addition suite (which we are told is the possible place of our residency if it is made by us in time!), and help in the construction department. His primary “job” there will be to help troubleshoot and fix computers in New Hope’s new computer lab (that recently received wireless internet so hopefully we can send out update emails or use Skype, etc!), as well as teach people how to use them. He has also been encouraged to bring his camera –to perhaps teach recent high school graduates about photography.

God recently has been strengthening our church’s connection with Africa, and in particular Rwanda. Rwanda is a neighbor of Uganda, and so we also plan to visit there during our trip. We are still working out the details of this portion but we hope to visit Compassion International’s child, Nyabyenda Zakayo that the mid-high has sponsored for many years. Also, we are planning to visit the World Vision sites where the HHBC community has sponsored children.

* For more information about New Hope Uganda at the Kasana site, visit http://www.newhopeuganda.org/Kasana.htm. You can order a book at this website that was a key inspiration for us to serve there called, The Long Road to Hope. It tells the amazing story of this ministry and its founders. We highly recommend it to anyone interested in missions work with children, particularly orphans.

If you feel drawn to this work and wish to support us financially and/or in prayer, you are truly a God-send in our lives!

Thank you very much for your friendship, support and love for us over the years, particularly during our transition from singlehood to marriage. We love you and hope you have a wonderful and special Christmas as you reflect on Christ’s coming to Earth and the fatherhood of God to all people and nations.